Blogging the beginning of Chicago's Christian Science fellowship

Posts Tagged ‘African-American’

Until Saturday, we were lacking in our connections with anyone from the Christian Science African-American community in Chicago. Nobody wanted to make it a racial issue, but we needed to invite people specifically from this community, or we’d never start the conversation.

Getting acquainted

So we got together at Bee Library on South State Street just to talk about how we could get over whatever it is that keeps us too distant from each other. Finding something to talk about was no problem! In fact, after two hours, the majority said they really wanted to meet again. There’s so much more to say.

One of the first topics was the need to deal with ignorance. Ignorance means to ignore, and we can all tear down disconnecting barriers with better education. We’ll also learn to stop judging by appearances.

We came together to listen and learn

The conversation moved back and forth between whether we should be discussing racism or not. One of the reasons in favor of discussing it was the realization some shared that they had discerned subtle forms of racism in their own thoughts. Racism, as well as any other unGod-like thought must be met in our own thought. Institutional racism, for instance, is almost hidden because people don’t feel anger or superiority. But it needs to be recognized, in order to confront it within.

Shifting the discussion to another form of division, someone described a tough time he had when he felt rejected by the Christian Science community as a whole. It had nothing to do with race. It had to do with the culture of our healing practice. It started with a physical difficulty he faced. After an earnest effort of several years to seek healing through Christian Science, he felt it was wise to seek medical support. But the rebuke from the Christian Science community shocked and saddened him. At a time when people need the most help, can we not find a way to be there for each other? (more…)